Apple News & Updates : Two Guys And A Podcast

Apple’s stock price currently hovers in the low $520’s, a far cry from the days of AAPL closing just over $700. Where Apple’s stock price may be headed is up for huge debate, and if you want to believe AAPL is moving to $800, then believe this. If you want to believe Apple is in a free-fall, go here. There seems to be an abundance of Kool-Aid for everyone of any persuasion. Underneath all of the pop culture of stock predictions lies a fundamental question: Did investors ever believe in Apple, or was it only Steve Jobs that they saw someone worth investing in?

Steve Jobs led Apple out of its dark past to make Apple the largest financially solvent tech company in the world. Investors were quick to take note and eagerly followed along. AAPL rose from $10 a share in 2004 to over $350 per share by the time of Jobs death in March, 2011, rising to over $420 a share (which included two stock splits). Apple’s stock price continued to march happily north, peaking at $702.10 on September 19, 2012, nearly a year after Tim Cook had begun to act as full-time Apple CEO. Nothing had seemed to change between Jobs or Cook, just more product market share and financial success. But it wasn’t long after Apple’s dramatic rise to just over $700 that Wall Street began to sour on Apple.

Since the fall of 2012, AAPL has seen a low of $392, with a high only reaching back to only $570. Some argue this is higher than Jobs ever achieved while at the helm of Apple, but Apple’s cash reserves alone, a staggering $160 billion, demand a stock value of at least $500 a share.

Apple’s valuation is out of whack with that of its tech competitors, and no matter which analyst estimate Apple beats or misses, there has been little to no effect in moving the stock in a positive direction for quite some time.

Apple’s revenue growth has come to a literal standstill, and investors seem more inclined to look at AAPL as a mature dividend stock versus any growth vehicle for the future.

When Apple’s stock began to be shaken, questions of Cook's leadership swiftly came pouring down. Since Cook’s reign of CEO at Apple, the company has not produced a single new revolutionary market segment product. iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad were all under Jobs leadership. Mr. Cook has only managed Jobs products, has showcased nothing to show his own leadership prowess, and has given investors little reason to invest.

Perhaps Wall Street never invested in Apple? Perhaps they invested in the charismatic Steve Jobs and his ability to turn markets upside down, or create new ones out of thin air. With Tim Cook running Apple, Inc. the story has been much different. The most anticipated product coming from Cupertino is a near-release larger display iPhone 6 — hardly a revolutionary solution for a market that has had large display phones for years. Perhaps a highly anticipated watch device or revolutionary TV solution will allow investors to open their wallets once more and buy into Apple’s vision, the Tim Cook version.

Did Wall Street ever believe in Apple, Inc? Apparently not, but they did believe in the man leading it for over a decade and Steve Jobs is no longer with us. Recent history shows us that any big run up in Apple’s stock price is over, no matter how much cash Apple accumulates, or how high dividends go, it was apparently about Jobs – not Apple.

3 Comments

elder norm
~ April 15, 2014 13:47

"or was it only Steve Jobs that they saw someone worth investing in"----
Wall Street did not believe in Steve Jobs... ever.!!! The bloggers and anal...yst only jumped on board when it looked like the stock was going from 200 to 1000!!!
The street ONLY believes in companies like walmart and microsoft. Very slow changing and in todays world, slowly dying. (remember the lack of effort in mobile??)
"Apple’s revenue growth has come to a literal standstill," -------
Yep, Apple is only making more that any 3 companies combined..... every quarter....every year....... and paying dividends and buying the worlds supply of sapphire, etc, etc.
Yep, Apple is dying, just listen to any anti-apple blogger. And in 3 years when Windows 9 comes out, it will take over the world. Yep...../s
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Winski
~ April 15, 2014 20:28

"Investors", which really means "day trader", are during Apple as a hedge fund for their end-of-month performance requirements.... They DO NOT CARE whist average Joe on the street has no chance to help decide what happens to Apple... Remember, ONLY the day traders make money....
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rolf
~ April 16, 2014 06:30

DIG:
Wall St and anal-ists have not understood or wanted to understand Appel, ever.
IRONY:
the irony is they all are irresponsible big mouths. egocentrical narcisissts wishing to hear themselves talk. yet the irony is none of them walk the talk. they are all miserably poor in success, finance, vision. it’s doubtful their iQ are high, and certainly the more crucial ingredient of genius, their eQ is too low to be worthy of existence. whom do they do any good? themselves, that’s it. but not even that, as they fool themselves into worth.
ABSURDITY:
is it not a sad culture, that is dying, rottening in ancient Roman-like Decadence, yet finds it noble to deride Apple in Schadenfreude? Apple-the only tech firm at least, always in the Black, the only Made in the USA firm that is loved and respected worldwide, Apple, the 7th biggest tax payer in the nation etc? Why would the gov. + media + people spend so much energy trying to ridicule and destroy the only truly successful co. in the country, the only pride we should have, the richest firm in the world, whose so ingenious and efficient, naturally successful not greedy, that it has more 3x more cash than the incompetent US gov!! no firm in history has ever flummoxed competition, esp. that much.
LAISSEZ-FAIRE:
can we all please let Apple be. they have proven themselves more than any other firm in history. it’s the only Phoenix rising and multiple times! the only firm that changed cultures and 7 times by now!
let it be.
focus on your own success. do not succeed through derision and copying and crying over spilled milk.
media and gov. are totally irresponsible, childish, unprofessional, illegal, self-destructive if they keep hacking at Apple i.e. eBook case or taxes etc.
stop fooling around or destroy the best we have, Apple, and become a police state punishing anything and everything, instead of fixing problems and saving the country.
stop f’g suing. start acting like thinking humans, not homogeneous robots. do we realize our Democratic Freedom is a total farce and our “invidualism” is the biggest lie, since we are all living under Voksverdummung?! Think. Think Different damn it! For yourself!
Steve Jobs is dead. yes. but do you think Apple is a phoenix because it’s stupid or lazy like those who bitch about it? Steve Jobs not only planned way beyond 1-3 years ahead, Apple hires the top people in the world and its team can go beyond iSteve predictions of the future. Plus, are we that dumb, that we think life-changing revolutions just happen yearly, instead of taking years to perfect? Sure, once Apple’s NeXT Big Thing launches this year and next, the rest of the world will start taking it for granted and say, we invented it, it’s so simplistic.
Get a life.
Let Apple be.
it will survive and surprise us all yet again.
whilst all competitors are flummoxed and can’t think beyond copying not just products but pathetically even marketing, Apple will surprise them all, f’ them all, like a tsunami, and be years ahead – again! just wait.
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